Monday, November 22, 2010

In typical A-merry-can fashion the hysteria over the TSA searches have hit record levels. Fake stories on wingnut sites, and urban (or rural) legends are everywhere. (BTW, that shirtless boy story is not quite the way the wingnuts portrayed it.) You would think the government s going to insert secret radio chips in every person who goes through one of these new screeners. There is even concerns about low levels of radiation emitting from these new devices. Yeah, right. This from a nation of people who damn near live with cell phones on their ears. Give me a break!

I am going to be getting a close up experience with one of these new devices as I start my holiday travel, and I am more concerned about the idiots staging a protest and holding up the checkpoint lines than the damn TSA employees and their machines. Anyway, I hope you all know where this is heading. Be careful of right wing hysteria, it never ends well.

Finally, speaking of right wing hysteria: Sometimes it's best to let you just read for yourselves and draw your own conclusions. Check out the latest from some clown from a group who calls themselves The American Family Association:

"The Medal of Honor will be awarded this afternoon to Army Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta for his heroism in Afghanistan, and deservedly so. He took a bullet in his protective vest as he pulled one soldier to safety, and then rescued the sergeant who was walking point and had been taken captive by two Taliban, whom Sgt. Giunta shot to free his comrade-in-arms.

This is just the eighth Medal of Honor awarded during our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Sgt. Giunta is the only one who lived long enough to receive his medal in person.

But I have noticed a disturbing trend in the awarding of these medals, which few others seem to have recognized.

We have feminized the Medal of Honor.

According to Bill McGurn of the Wall Street Journal, every Medal of Honor awarded during these two conflicts has been awarded for saving life. Not one has been awarded for inflicting casualties on the enemy. Not one.

Gen. George Patton once famously said, "The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other guy die for his."

When we think of heroism in battle, we used the think of our boys storming the beaches of Normandy under withering fire, climbing the cliffs of Pointe do Hoc while enemy soldiers fired straight down on them, and tossing grenades into pill boxes to take out gun emplacements.

That kind of heroism has apparently become passe when it comes to awarding the Medal of Honor. We now award it only for preventing casualties, not for inflicting them.

So the question is this: when are we going to start awarding the Medal of Honor once again for soldiers who kill people and break things so our families can sleep safely at night?

I would suggest our culture has become so feminized that we have become squeamish at the thought of the valor that is expressed in killing enemy soldiers through acts of bravery. We know instinctively that we should honor courage, but shy away from honoring courage if it results in the taking of life rather than in just the saving of life. So we find it safe to honor those who throw themselves on a grenade to save their buddies.

Jesus, in words often cited in ceremonies such as the one which will take place this afternoon, said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). So it is entirely right that we honor this kind of bravery and self-sacrifice, which is surely an imitation of the Lord of lords and King of kings.

However, Jesus’ act of self-sacrifice would ultimately have been meaningless - yes, meaningless - if he had not inflicted a mortal wound on the enemy while giving up his own life.

The significance of the cross is not just that Jesus laid down his life for us, but that he defeated the enemy of our souls in the process. It was on the cross that he crushed the head of the serpent. It was on the cross that “he disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15).

The cross represented a cosmic showdown between the forces of light and the forces of darkness, and our commanding general claimed the ultimate prize by defeating our unseen enemy and liberating an entire planet from his bondage.

We rightly honor those who give up their lives to save their comrades. It’s about time we started also honoring those who kill bad guys." ['Article]

Okaaay. "Honoring those who kills bad guys." Let me give you the CliffsNotes version of what my man just wrote:

We do not want to glorify men who are brave when they save the lives of others, only those who kill others in battle. In other words, the Medal of Honor has been "feminized."

I guess that's what happens when you have a wimpy president like Obama. Where is Reagan when you need him?

115 comments:

I am opposed to war but I feel what he is saying here (and no where did he mention Obama). I don't know if the award has been feminized, but as St. Giunta is the only person from the last two conflicts to be alive to receive it, apparently being a martyr helps.

War is brutal. The object of war is to kill the enemy before he kills you, and we train our young soldiers to do exactly that. I think we do everyone a disservice if we pretend otherwise.

I wonder if the author of the article ever served in the military. So what if a lot of people don't die? I've never known a dead man to reveal any valuable information.

Why are people so bent out of shape about the image scanners at airports. No one is going to know who you are so what's the big deal about having your photo taken? If you're worried about how your body looks, hit the gym.

"I am going to be getting a close up experience with one of these new devices as I start my holiday travel,and I am more concerned about the idiots staging a protest and holding up the checkpoint lines than the damn TSA employees and their machines. Anyway, I hope you all know where this is heading. Be careful of right wing hysteria, it never ends well."

Such a defender of authority you have become. "Go ahead sir, put your fingers up my ass please. Dear Leader says it's for my own good"

Wingnuts tend to be brave and courageous far, far away from any action. Note how many war cheerleaders signed up....and how many still act as confederate Home Guard.The writing shows chickenhawk for the candya$$ he is...hate to burst his cowardly fantasy but most who did serve respect greatly those who go towards enemy fire to save us.

Yeppers, let us get all Entitled on the low-paid non-union TSA employees for being born poor and having to work. How dare those lowly peons touch my exalted and sacred personage!! I propose mandatory service such as a Draft. Getting a pat-down somehow seems less important after watching friends get obliterated...or standing at attention as the MPs do searches.

Gee Field...I don't quite understand your stance on this given that if we can save lives in the heat of all that killing--that's a good thing.

My uncles told us some riveting stories about the Korean Conflict and how they were treated. (Black Soldiers)during my adolescent years. They were sent out first and if most of them made it back; those in charge would then order the rest of troops to follow course. It was their mission to look out for each other and make it back because they always felt like they were being used like "canaries in the mind shaft" for the white units. There was a sense of personal pride when they returned en masse and observed the "s__t" looking expressions on the faces of those in charge.

I'm glad they made it back so we could hear those stories and how they fought under and navigated two systems that were out to get them. The Koreans and Americans.Plus they were my favorite uncles--now deceased. God Bless them!

It is not about right-wing vs left-wing. It's about people who do not want their private areas or those of their children, sisters, wives or other relatives groped. When you get an X-Ray at the dental office they give you a lead apron to protect against radiation. Not so at the airport. Why not?

There are many people who feel this way. Some of them are right-wing. Many of them are left-wing. Obvious hypocrites aside it's really about folks who take the 4th Amendment seriously and those who do not. Some people are content to submit to the wisdom of the state and others think the Bill of Rights means something.

In addition, the idiots who came up with this don't seem to have thought things through. If someone really did have a bomb they could kill MORE people and do just as much damage in those lines in the airport as they could on a plane.

Not a fake story.Not hysteria.Just your government tax dollars at work.

"Transportation Security Administration chief John Pistole apologized today to a bladder cancer survivor from Michigan who said a security agent at Detroit Metro Airport patted him down so roughly that it caused his urine bag to leak onto his clothing."

You really out to catch the video of the United States abasing itself before some of the most reprehensible regimes in the world. You probably agree with all of this, but it makes me sick to see representatives from Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and China lecture the United States on human rights. All of the most repressive countries on earth seem to be reading form the same script (The New York Times?) as they tell the African American UN representative (Esther Brimmer)appointed by the African American President that the U.S. needs to stop the systematic discrimination against persons of African descent.

[Question for Field: In what way does the U.S. government discriminate AGAINST African Americans?]

Obama even has an Asian fellow (Harold Koh) step up to deliver a message along these lines: "The United States is very bad, but Barack Obama is very good. He seeks to redeem America from its evil." A token white guy (Samuel Bagenstos) and a Native American dude (Larry Echo Hawk) are there to back up Koh's message. The Jew in charge (Michael Posner) is there to thank everyone for calling America racist, women-beating torturers.

The key foreign policy goal of the Obama administration seems to be to destroy the notion that America is an exceptional nation, and to cut it down to the same size as brutal dictatorships around the world. And oh ya, Barack Obama is a really great dude.

Pistole went on to say that while watch lists and other intelligence sources help the TSA pick out travelers who might pose greater risks, rules against profiling mean that some people who are less of a risk, such as the elderly or the disabled, must sometimes undergo pat-downs.

So, in the name of political correctness, we are all at greater risk, and a 90 year-old African American grandmother in a wheelchair is as likely to get a "pat down" as a 23 year-old Yemeni man with a Sudanese passport.

Everyone knows that the reason we have to take off our shoes, have our toothpaste confiscated, and get photographed naked or groped at the airport is because Religion of Peaceniks keep trying to kill us out of sheer evil. We go through these intensely irritating rituals so that our liberal rulers can make it clear that they would rather we suffer than profile the Muslims who commit terror attacks. End of story.

"Gee Field...I don't quite understand your stance on this given that if we can save lives in the heat of all that killing--that's a good thing."

CAROLYN, you have to get used to me. I actually DO NOT agree with the wingnut who penned the article I quoted. I think he is a f^%$#@g idiot!

BTW, I thank your Uncle for his service. May his soul RIP.

" Yeppers, let us get all Entitled on the low-paid non-union TSA employees for being born poor and having to work. How dare those lowly peons touch my exalted and sacred personage!! I propose mandatory service such as a Draft. Getting a pat-down somehow seems less important after watching friends get obliterated...or standing at attention as the MPs do searches."

Amen Mold! It's so easy to pick on the low level TSA government worker, but we allow all kinds of other s*&^ in our lives.

"Everyone knows that the reason we have to take off our shoes, have our toothpaste confiscated, and get photographed naked or groped at the airport is because Religion of Peaceniks keep trying to kill us out of sheer evil. We go through these intensely irritating rituals so that our liberal rulers can make it clear that they would rather we suffer than profile the Muslims who commit terror attacks. End of story."

are you starting to get the pattern Field? With a arazor sharp mind such as yours, you'd be a good fit at the TSA"

Actually, it appears that the razor from my mind is cutting into your BS. If you are suggesting we profile instead of these intrusive body scanners. Given the fact that I have just shown you that westerners can be converted to support radical terrorist; doesn't that make your profiling argument kind of silly and illogical?

Just asking.

And, for the record, I wouldn't do well at the TSA, I am too easily distracted. ;)

"Given the fact that I have just shown you that westerners can be converted to support radical terrorist; doesn't that make your profiling argument kind of silly and illogical?"

no, not if you profile based on religion, not race.

and it's not that simple, there are lots of factors that should considered. age, gender, country of origin, how the ticket was paid for, where the passport has been stamped - - it's common sense that there are valid risk factors to consider when deciding who to focus on.

Recently I had an x-ray taken of my back. When the doctor looked at it, he enhanced it to get a better look. Lo and behold, I could see the outline of my body. Which makes me think the x-ray machines in the airport are actually penetrating the whole body and software is enhancing the body outline. Maybe not as much radiation as in a hospital bur certainly more than a CT scan. This would make sense because not every body is the same size and if plastic explosives were on a person you would have to look deeper in order to distinguish between the muscle and the plastics. I wouldn't be surprised if they don't look in the stomach and bowel. X-rays are not bounced off the body. What they show the public doesn't necessarily mean that we know the full capability. Imaging software is a bitch.

If you travel a lot or like me have health problems which require that you take a lot of test that require some form of x-ray, one is just adding to the risk.

I can't speak to the other technology, but I do think you should be able to find out which technology your airport has. I have not been able to do so for PHL.

I also don't trust maintenance, since on several occasions, I have run into bum hand scanners. The hand scanners are much simpler devices, so I'm not impressed with the FEDs or the City ability to be any better with the higher tech scanner's maintenance.

You see I remember the days of the Fluoroscope in shoe stores, used to help give you the proper shoe fit. Later is was found out that those machines were giving off high levels of radiation. The science was there for them too know better, even though that was over 50 years ago.

I wonder how is plastic that different than human tissue. I not talking about the ones they make guns from. There are hundreds of compounds and I suspect some explosive ones might just mimic biomaterial.

I don't count on government officials in the TSA being scientifically literate, especially when most of their support comes from contractors.

BTW The intensity of x-rays are a thousand fold the intensity of the radio frequency of the cell.

"In other words, how would you know that I am a radical Islamist if I, say, was born in Pennsylvania, I am middle aged, and I paid for my Airline ticket with an Amex card?"

I wouldn't. unless i had some reason to think you were lying, you would probably go through a standard screening (no one should walk onto on airplane with absolutely no checking). But profiling can focus security efforts. In the absence of pre-exisitng information, the first thing i would do is ask them. having an Egyptian passport or a muslim name, which converts often adopt, might trigger a look. suspicious travel plans (place of origin, one-way ticket) might do it. the point is when looking for a needle to use some criteria to narrow things down intead of rummaging through the haystack.

For the love of God, go through the effin scanners, there is no perve in the back jacking off to your fattass (pronounced fat-tass) xray image.

Excessive? Probably. But flying is not a right.

For the most part, I dont think people enjoy killing a life or lives in war. I would imagine that killing someone, even in war, is a traumatizing event. One that people wouldnt want commemorated. But, I am a female, so maybe I'm just making his point for him.

"I am going to be getting a close up experience with one of these new devices as I start my holiday travel, and I am more concerned about the idiots staging a protest and holding up the checkpoint lines than the damn TSA employees and their machines"

Field, I'm kinda disappointed with you. It's not about the machines -- it's about how people are being mentally conditioned to accept more and more intrusions into their personal liberties. Something that Ben Franklin said about trading liberty for security and having neither in the end or so forth. Besides, it's all theater anyways, as it's been proven that these procedures just don't work. It's all song-and-dance brought to you by people who have to look like they're doing something by introducing useless procedures as part of the process.

Personally, I wouldn't bother and simply hop in my car. True, some of the destinations take hours to get to and sometimes I could do without a 12-hr sprint from my home to Miami, but I'd rather do that go through the TSA process. Personally, I believe doing so is a emplicit form of consent saying that this process is OK and that I won't say anything if the process was loaded down with even more bullshit.

You have fun going through all of that, Field.

"That kind of heroism has apparently become passe when it comes to awarding the Medal of Honor. We now award it only for preventing casualties, not for inflicting them...

...I would suggest our culture has become so feminized that we have become squeamish at the thought of the valor that is expressed in killing enemy soldiers through acts of bravery. We know instinctively that we should honor courage, but shy away from honoring courage if it results in the taking of life rather than in just the saving of life. So we find it safe to honor those who throw themselves on a grenade to save their buddies...."

Any soldier who read that shit is probably thinking "What the fuck does this jackoff know about the Metal of Honor?". And the correct answer would be.......jack shit.

This man should do himself and the rest of the world a favor and walk away from the journalist biz. Before he ends up hurting himself more.

"You probably agree with all of this, but it makes me sick to see representatives from Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and China lecture the United States on human rights. All of the most repressive countries on earth seem to be reading form the same script (The New York Times?) as they tell the African American UN representative (Esther Brimmer)appointed by the African American President that the U.S. needs to stop the systematic discrimination against persons of African descent......

....Obama even has an Asian fellow (Harold Koh) step up to deliver a message along these lines: "The United States is very bad, but Barack Obama is very good. He seeks to redeem America from its evil."....

....The key foreign policy goal of the Obama administration seems to be to destroy the notion that America is an exceptional nation, and to cut it down to the same size as brutal dictatorships around the world. And oh ya, Barack Obama is a really great dude.

I honestly don't know why this country prides itself on being a bunch of A-grade assholes towards other nations (and our own people). Maybe it's because we folks haven't had a real knock-down drag-out war with an equally tough foreign country since the War of 1812. Maybe because folks like Reagan and Bush continuously validated America's "right" to be assholes towards those who don't kiss it's ass. That should lead me to question why we tend to prostrate ourselves towards Israel, a tiny nation we'd otherwise be kicking around. Thrasher would that.

So you're saying that other nations calling us out on how the ethnic majority treats its largest ethnic minority is something we should tell these other nations to "get fucked" over? Oh wait...Americans aren't supposed to show empathy on the world stage, unless it's the kind of "empathy" we give to starving nations like Haiti. Nor are they supposed to show humility. Because that sounds "weak". And America doesn't do "weak".

And you wonder why other nations are counting the days before this country is told to get the fuck out of First Class and start flying Coach like the rest of the world. I'm sure they'd feel pissed having to sit next to Canada, of all countries. That's like sitting next to David Schwimmer when you could be shooting the shit with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"TSA officials say that anyone refusing both the “full body scanners” and the “enhanced pat down” procedures will be taken into custody.

Once there the detainees will not only be barred from flying, but will be held indefinitely as suspected terrorists, face fines of up to $11,000 and may also be turned over to local police."

What sort of slaveowner Gestapo mentality is this? Where did it come from and why would Americans tolerate it? What law allows this? Indefinite detention? Really folks?

Again, just ASKING someone who has already broken a law/code in Arizona for proof of citizenship is somehow intolerable racism and state overreach and MUST be denounced and fought at the highest level but doing prison type searches on American citizens and detaining them without warrant or probable cause if they decline is just peachy?

And if they get away with this sort of bs on airlines, why not other forms of transportation? Why not buses and trains?

And if you have no 4th Amendment rights why not checkpoints and random stops on expressways?

Why don't we just throw out the entire Bill of Rights? That at least would be more honest.

FN - Com'n now. You know there isnt' one damn Black Man who converted to ISLAM from Philly WITH an AMEX card. They credit went bad when they were convertin in prison.

You soundin real light in the thinkin department. To much liberalism is sinking your logic."

Now see what I have to deal with? :) And folks think they have it hard.

BTW, props to some of these new names the Anons. have been coming up with. "Old enough not to wear tight ass jeans"? Love it!

Shady & Mac. I respect both of you, but we are going to have to agree to disagree on this one. I fly quite often, and I am used to being inconvenienced. If I am in that little tube at 30,000.00 for a couple of hours, I want every damn precaution taken to make sure those two wheels touchdown.

As someone above said, flying is not a right, it's a privilege. Again, Greyhound is still around, and so is the train. In fact, I enjoy the train as well.

Honestly, I am more concerned about the health issues than the privacy ones. So I am thinking about what Hathor said. Although I am pretty sure it won’t change my position.

I have a couple pieces of metal and pretty cloth that I got for doing the more "masculine" rather than "feminine" thing. They both come with scars, and nightmares.

The "feminisation" may be because the over-all enterprise rather than the specific act which merits an award. Maybe, somewhere in the back of "authority's" warped little mind there is that nagging remnant of conscience that says, "firing these people up and mauling their country isn't right", so, that's an underlying factor.

But look at Jessica Lynch. I personally think she DID have a lot of guts because she told on the lying bast... uh ... honorable leaders from West Point. ('scuse me, felt a polemic comin' on, there)

The sad thing is, so many of those who do the awarding hold the whole thing, and the awardee in contempt. I've seen it.

Field, last time I flew was in March, we went out of Dulles. I can tell you this, I was treated with courtesy and even a bit of humor.But, almost everyone one who was on the TSA detail and even worked in the place would probably have found themselves on the watch list if they travelled. Most were from west and southwest Asia, or the horn of Africa.

Pat everyone down. I don't give a damn. The 90 yr old grandmother down to the 1 yr old. People to dirty things and I do not want to be on that plane with the person that has decided to take one for the team. Because the first time someone gets thru on the plane with any kind of explosive device people are going to lose their minds. And I don't know why Americans seem to think we have all this privacy anyway? We have freedom but it's not as much as we seem to think. Step outside that line and your behind will get hemmed up.

This was my feeling when Reagan was busting the airlines industries unions and non union mechanics were being hired at 7.50/hr. Also having been in an industry that manufactured sensors for commercial jets, I was really grateful for the amount of redundancy on each plane.

I sure won't be electing for the radiation exposure. So I guess my neighbor's creepy TSA son might have his dream come true.

Anony 8:13, are you going to "pat" down and x-ray the airport security and the airport employees every time they go near the plane too? They don't do dirty things too?

If they are able to steal items out your bags and jack entire designer luggage right off the plane, or before it even gets on the plane without anyone noticing, how will you stop them from putting a bomb in it's place?

The woman who told President Barack Obama that she was “exhausted” from defending him and his economic policies and waiting for the change she expected after voting for him has another reason to be put out: She’s lost her job.

Velma Hart, the chief financial officer for Am Vets, a veteran services organization based in Maryland, said Monday in an interview with CNBC that she was laid off as part of the nonprofit’s effort to cut expenses.

And for the two body-image confident women who don't have problems with the legal molestation because they are not "fat asses". I hope when someone eventually slides a finger up and in between your ass and front, I don't want to hear shit about sexual violation and nightmares from you. Karma is a bitch.

For the anonymous poster who weeped that medics get awards..let me know your local recruiter...I'll use my contacts to give you the opportunity to see medics operating during combat. John Wayne and st reagan both avoided being in WWII operations...which is why they were so gung-ho. Check out the actors who did serve.

Ever since st reagan broke the union, flying has been a pain. Wonder if this is unintended consequences or planned?

Ms Hart was RIFed? How many Bristol 'voters' made it clear that an outspoken, competent AfAm needed to go away?

Then again, some Lefty bloggers have predicted a wage crash so that our economic eleets could have cheap, cheap labour here in the US. They all wail about the huge costs and how business can't compete without union-free shops and subsistence wages. Odd that France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, etc. all pay more, give more benefits, and still manage somehow...somehow to play in the global market. Of course, we won't mention that their executive cadre makes less. We will avoid the vast gulf between their CEOs and ours.

Anon 8:31 am said "The Medal of Honor is straight hard-core masculine death and destruction brought upon the enemy that was beyond the call of duty during war. There is nothing 'feminine' about this medal. That is, until now. In doing so, President Obama has diminished what it symbolizes in the eyes of many Americans."--------------

Hathor posted the link showing the recipients going back to the Civil War. Read it. Most of them were for actions that included saving the lives of others. Many of them from WWII were for falling on a live grenade. You have to label this as being "feminine" to try and demean the memory people who sacrificed their own lives for others? To score some cheap political points? Seriously?

Coincidentally, I happened to catch a show called "Wartorn" on HBO last night. Has anyone seen it? A pretty good summation of the history of PSTD going back through the Civil War. Good segment on Iraq vets including those who have committed suicide or been messed up for life.

I don't think the guy was implying we shouldn't give the Medal of Honor for "saving lives". He was saying you don't see the MOH being awarded to guys like John Basilone anymore:

"His Medal of Honor citation, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, reads:

The President of the United States in the name of The Congress takes pride in presenting the MEDAL OF HONOR to

SERGEANT

JOHN BASILONEUNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

for service as set forth in the following CITATION:

For extraordinary heroism and conspicuous gallantry in action against enemy Japanese forces, above and beyond the call of duty, while serving with the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division in the Lunga Area. Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, on 24 and 25 October 1942. While the enemy was hammering at the Marines' defensive positions, Sgt. Basilone, in charge of 2 sections of heavy machine guns, fought valiantly to check the savage and determined assault. In a fierce frontal attack with the Japanese blasting his guns with grenades and mortar fire, one of Sgt. Basilone's sections, with its guncrews, was put out of action, leaving only 2 men able to carry on. Moving an extra gun into position, he placed it in action, then, under continual fire, repaired another and personally manned it, gallantly holding his line until replacements arrived. A little later, with ammunition critically low and the supply lines cut off, Sgt. Basilone, at great risk of his life and in the face of continued enemy attack, battled his way through hostile lines with urgently needed shells for his gunners, thereby contributing in large measure to the virtual annihilation of a Japanese regiment. His great personal valor and courageous initiative were in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.

And then, Basilone was awarded the Navy Cross (2nd highest award) for actions on Iwo Jima, where he was killed, while kicking ass and NOT taking names:

"Navy Cross citationThe President of the United States takes pride in presenting the NAVY CROSS posthumously to

GUNNERY SERGEANT

JOHN BASILONEUNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

for service as set forth in the following CITATION:

For extraordinary heroism while serving as a Leader of a Machine-Gun Section, Company C, 1st Battalion, 27th Marines, 5th Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands, 19 February 1945. Shrewdly gauging the tactical situation shortly after landing when his company's advance was held up by the concentrated fire of a heavily fortified Japanese blockhouse, Gunnery Sergeant Basilone boldly defied the smashing bombardment of heavy caliber fire to work his way around the flank and up to a position directly on top of the blockhouse and then, attacking with grenades and demolitions, single handedly destroyed the entire hostile strong point and its defending garrison. Consistently daring and aggressive as he fought his way over the battle-torn beach and up the sloping, gun-studded terraces toward Airfield Number 1, he repeatedly exposed himself to the blasting fury of exploding shells and later in the day coolly proceeded to the aid of a friendly tank which had been trapped in an enemy mine field under intense mortar and artillery barrages, skillfully guiding the heavy vehicle over the hazardous terrain to safety, despite the overwhelming volume of hostile fire. In the forefront of the assault at all times, he pushed forward with dauntless courage and iron determination until, moving upon the edge of the airfield, he fell, instantly killed by a bursting mortar shell. Stouthearted and indomitable, Gunnery Sergeant Basilone, by his intrepid initiative, outstanding skill, and valiant spirit of self-sacrifice in the face of the fanatic opposition, contributed materially to the advance of his company during the early critical period of the assault, and his unwavering devotion to duty throughout the bitter conflict was an inspiration to his comrades and reflects the highest credit upon Gunnery Sergeant Basilone and the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life in the service of his country.

Mack Lyons said..."So you're saying that other nations calling us out on how the ethnic majority treats its largest ethnic minority is something we should tell these other nations to "get fucked" over? Oh wait...Americans aren't supposed to show empathy on the world stage, unless it's the kind of "empathy" we give to starving nations like Haiti. Nor are they supposed to show humility. Because that sounds "weak". And America doesn't do "weak". And you wonder why other nations are counting the days before this country is told to get the fuck out of First Class and start flying Coach like the rest of the world."

I knew you'd be on board with the Obama agenda of cutting America down to size, but I've worked hard, and I like flying business class (not first).

Answer this Mack: What exactly, in 2010, does the U.S. Government do to discriminate AGAINST it's largest ethnic minority? Where race is mentioned at all in our legal code, is it not only to give extra rights to minorities?

You think blacks are treated as fairly under the law in any other country they are a minority?

Do you think women are treated so much better in Iran than here that we need to be lectured by the Iranian delegate about "violence against women"?

What purpose does this exercise accomplish other than to humilate America and venerate Obama?

I would tell the assorted representatives of dictatorships that routinely brutalize their own citizens to "get fucked" when they show up to lecture America about human rights. This whole idea of America the oppressor is so warped it cannot be held by a rational person. But you're not exactly rational, are you?

First off, this has nothing to do with the title of your post, but I couldn't find anywhere else to put it. Maybe others didn't hear what I heard last night on prime time TV? I, like you try real hard to keep my racism chasing down to a minimum but I couldn't help myself with this comment made on last night's Dancing With The Stars. Kyle Massey, the sole "negro" left in the competition chose hip hop as their free style dance. They did just fine, especially when the free style dance piece is usually the dance form that is either most complementary or comfortable for the contestants. At the end of the dance, Len called it the Boogaloo and let him know that he isn't that fond of it. But, the killer was when the male Host called their dance form Ghetto Dancing. What is ghetto dancing? The dictionary describes ghetto as...a noun.

ghet·to /ˈgɛtoʊ/ [get-oh] –noun, plural -tos, -toes. 1. a section of a city, esp. a thickly populated slum area, inhabited predominantly by members of an ethnic or other minority group, often as a result of social or economic restrictions, pressures, or hardships. 2. (formerly, in most European countries) a section of a city in which all Jews were required to live. 3. a section predominantly inhabited by Jews. 4. any mode of living, working, etc., that results from stereotyping or biased treatment: job ghettos for women; ghettos for the elderly. With that said, was Kyle's dance a poor Jewish block dance?

As someone who flies more than everyone here put together I have to agree with Field on this one. I don't agree with profiling because EVERYONE who gets on my plane needs to be screened. Grandma may have a bomb too, everybody gets searched no exceptions. I bet none of ya'll were this brave on 9-12-2001 were you? I thank the TSA agents every chance I get because it's their jobto keep my silly ass safe and for that I thank them. It's a thankless job and it's for the common good and yes we will find a better way but we need to be patient until that happens. @ Anon 12;03 it is intellectually dishonest to compare the U.S. to other nations when it comes to human rights. True, we don't behead people but we do discriminate based on race when it comes to prison sentences as we have more prisoners than any other nation. Conservatives love their false equivalencies but if it helps you sleep at night have at it. I'm sure the conservative talking point in 1960 was "sure you may be lynched for trying to vote but it could be worse, you caould have been a Jew in Germany in 1940 so count your blessings". Sure you had a stroke and can only use one arm, you could have lost the use of both arms, so there. Funny those who use these arguments are the ones in power and don't suffer any discrimination. BTW I love the new term "protected class" to describe non white males. My RW co-worker used the term. I wish I could be a ditto-head and just say stupid shit that Sean or Rush say without thinking. I'm converting.

PilotX said..."True, we don't behead people but we do discriminate based on race when it comes to prison sentences as we have more prisoners than any other nation."

Who discriminates based on race? Name names. Anyone abusing the power of the government by racially discriminating against any person should be prosecuted for their crime. Is Eric Holder not doing his job?

Disparate results do not necessarily reflect disparate treatment.

There is nothing in the U.S. legal code that states that black males get longer prison sentences. The only modifier based on race is for "Hate" crimes, and this empiraclly benefits blacks primarily (even though black on white violent crime occurs at a rate approximately 50 times white on black violent crime).

It's easy to casuallly toss out assertions that the "government" must be racist because blacks consitute a higher proportion of the prison population, but this discounts the fact that blacks constitute a higher proportion of the people commititng crimes. In fact, the correllation is pretty much 1:1. So where's the discrimination?

Calling some pastor out for being a low level “house negro,” but supporting massah’s plantation modifications.

Massah: No niggers walk’n ‘round after dark. There are evil boo hags and haints out in those woods that’ll get you po’ disempowered niggers. Remus: Yessah boss. Don’t no niggas needs to be sashay’n ‘round afta dawk no ways. You knows best.Massah: No niggers looking me directly in the eyes when addressing me.Remus: You’s tell’m boss. I can’t even calculate the last time I’d seent yo bright shinning angelic face.

The TSA crackdown is the Obama administration's attempt to condition us to submit to the violation of our constitutional rights. Once they get away with this, they will ratchet it up another step. They need to be stopped now.

Thank you Atumbo. Throw that Edward Bernays version of the Bible in the trash and burn it.

TSA crackdown is an effort to divert the blame. So the gov. holds TSA'a responsible and halfwitts think this is about some AIDS in Africa fundraiser for the TSA's.

Marketing/media fake. About countering a growing movement that questions events of 9/11.

The beef up in security and Yemeni packages is a gesture to argue support for war. To remind you to keep your eyes on the ball. It's even beyond our little "rights." The imperial project is their main focus while "wes tawk'n 'bout TSAs and uda folk."

"The TSA crackdown is the Obama administration's attempt to condition us to submit to the violation of our constitutional rights. Once they get away with this, they will ratchet it up another step. They need to be stopped now."Atumbo

Nobody could've said it better! Not to mention the possible health concerns over this newer technology!

There's a startling fact about the TSA pat-downs that most of us have not realized: TSA agents often do not change their latex gloves between pat-downs! With these pat-down reaching into your pants, feeling your genitals, and sweeping bare armpits and buttocks, those latex gloves being worn by the TSA agents are obviously teeming with germs.

And yet TSA agents often don't change gloves between patting down passengers. They're often using the same gloves on you and your crotch as they were using on the previous passenger's exploratory crotch feel.

The aggressive airport searches and scans conducted by an out-of-control TSA do not occur in a psychological vacuum and directly reflect the Obama Administration's contempt for individual autonomy and callousness when it comes to balancing liberty and government authority to maintain public safety.

Before the public outcry, TSA had grown to tens of thousands of government "security" personnel who were empowered by rules and regulations to touch travelers' genitals, confiscate their belongings (on slim evidence that they posed any real danger) and demand that they assume the posture of criminals to be scanned head to foot.

If that sounds like a dry run for totalitarianism, it is, at least psychologically. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is the projection of Barack Obama's psyche--wherein, large numbers of uniformed folks establish a major presence in private companies (airlines, in this case) and "teach" the dangerous American population to behave according to rigid, intrusive, infantilizing rules--or be pulled aside for further questioning.

We're increasingly becoming prisoners in our own country due to terrorism. The TSA's scanners and pat downs symbolize the down fall of our privacy and our mounting fears of a terrorist attack on us-which seems imminent, sooner or later. How far must we go to feel safe? I don't know but there seems to be no end to it. It seems unlimited. It goes beyond the Constitution.

We must decide if it's worth the sacrifice of our freedom and privacy in order to fight terrorism in any meaningful way. That is the only way. Otherwise, we must accept this new way of life, or reject it. The old American way must make way for a new open way of life where NOTHING IS PRIVATE. What other way is possible, unless we are willing to turn away from Israel? That isn't going to happen. We are in this macabre dance of death in support of Israel for centuries to come, if we can last that long....

I really hope Israel is worth it and God approves.

Btw, I am more afraid of those body scanners than I am of the terrorists.

"yes we can...evade what you mongrels/peasants endure due to our private jets etc..."

shame!!!!

i hate huckabee

but he is spot on!!!

"If he thinks this is an appropriate way for us to deal with security as he has defended, then I've said, 'OK, Mr. Obama, take your wife, your two daughters and your mother-in-law to Washington Reagan National Airport and have them publicly go through both the body scanner and the full enhanced pat-down in front of others,'" Huckabee said in an interview on Fox and Friends. "'If it's OK for your wife, your daughters, and your mother-in-law, then maybe the rest of us won't feel so bad when our wives, our daughters and our mothers are being put through this humiliating and degrading, totally unconstitutional, intrusion of their privacy.'"

for those in support of this complete violation of privacy not to mention personal space, maybe folks didn't notice that the PILOTS are exempt? now we KNOW terrorists don't bother to learn to fly planes, right?

on a side note, have you SEEN some of the folks that work airport security?! i don't want them touching me!!! some of the "i'm addicted to porn" gross looks are PLENTY. ugh! and it is for this reason the REAL MEN are rightfully concerned for their women and children. their manhood causes them to seek to protect against their women and children being felt up by anyone, particularly strangers.

consider practicing ignoring the vulgar, sexist, gutter insults. what one focuses on expands. if there is a payoff by way of a response, it only fuels this insignificant, poorly socialized, vulgar, creature's attacks.

it is NOT what folks call you sis. it is what you ANSWER to. it is OBVIOUS this vile creature lacks the intellect to engage on any real level. create an ignore file and toss that creature right on in it.

he/she that angers you, controls you. provoking your anger is clearly a source of amusement for this vile creature. IGNORE IT. it attacks me as well. i.could.not.care.less. vile, filthy creatures screaming obscenities from the dark, dirty, feces filled gutter don't rate a response from me...or you either. i recognize my worth even if it is too ignorant to be able.

"The TSA crackdown is the Obama administration's attempt to condition us to submit to the violation of our constitutional rights. Once they get away with this, they will ratchet it up another step. They need to be stopped now."

Yeah, I hear the black helicopters up above me. *tipping away from the wingnut*

Ghee Chee, I am guessing you are a field Negro of convenience. I have this uncanny ability to sniff out a partisan fraud when I see one. Question: If "W" was in the White House would you be as outraged over these TSA searches?

That was a rhetorical question because I know the answer: NO!

“Should this Sophie's Choice between porno-scanners and government gropes be extended to travelers who decide to take the bus, the train, a ship, a taxi? Why or why not?"

Because a plane can do much more damage than a taxi,bus, or even a train. (See Sept. 11)

"Should parents who are teaching their children about private places and how NO ONE is allowed to touch them there also have to make exceptions for the friendly TSA agent?"

I don't have kids so I am going to leave this one alone. Maybe the kids should drive to Grandma's house. Or, maybe little Johnny can walk through the scanner. I bet it's safer than the TV he sits in front of all day.

"Should the Federal government be able to set up checkpoints on expressways or main streets in which EVERY driver and passenger will be stopped and searched/scanned? Why or why not?"

Well, local law enforcement (see state troopers) have the right to stop you if you are speeding or if their "trained" law enforcement eyes tell them that you are breaking the law. We can't stop every car. But we can search everyone who goes on a plane. Big difference. Besides, we also have toll booths. There are cameras at everyone and all along our highways. Yes, big brother is always watching. Try committing a crime in Center City, Philadelphia or any other major city in A-merry-ca and I guarantee you that you will be caught on camera.

"People smuggle all sorts of things in body cavities. To really be safe, are you willing to be subjected to a public cavity search each and every time you fly? Why or why not?"

I won't have to. I will choose to go through the new body scanner machine. If forced, I will consent. Ahhhhm, how far into my cavities?

"Does the Fourth Amendment mean anything to you or are you of the opinion that it's quaint, outmoded and should just be ignored because after all the government is just trying to keep us safe?"

Yep, it means a lot to me, and, in this case, it is not being ignored. I think the government is trying to keep me safe. I am not crazy about seatbelts, (I don't like the government in my car) but I will get a ticket if I don't wear it.

Field, why are you being a 'smart-ass" today? Have you been drinking again? I think you might be a candidate for AA, and I don't mean African American. Btw, I think Lark is a member who goes to a meeting everyday. lol

"The criteria for the MOH are extraordinary valor and heroism above and beyond the call of duty.What part of that do you not understand."

They didn't bother to read that. And it is apparent from reading some of the comments here that they didn't need to, since their primary audience would have no clue or inclination to learn about the facts.

Because a plane can do much more damage than a taxi,bus, or even a train. (See Sept. 11)

Where in the Constitution is there a utilitarian exception for Fourth Amendment rights?

There isn't one of course. Thousands of people die each year from auto accidents and/or drunk driving and people have used private vehicles for terrorist attacks (see Oklahoma City)That doesn't in turn mean that the government has the right to search every person driving for contraband, alcohol or weaponry absent some particularized reason.

Well Shady snarky remarks are always welcomed as I am known for my funky sense of humor so hopefully like mids think alike. You may disagree with me and think I'm 100% wrong but how much data have you seen regarding threats to airline travel? How much anti-terrorism training have you received? Are you an aviation security expert? If the answers to these questions are no I respect your opinion but it's based on nothing more than your feelings about the subject and thus have no weight in a serious discussion about airline security. Dispite what most think TSA gets daily intell about the threats and bases its responses on these threats. If you think it violates the 4th amendment then your have every right to sue. I really don't know the answers to most of your questions regarding privacy as I am a pilot and weather geek, my sister is the lawyer. If your kid is emotionally scarred for life by a little pat down while you observe then I don't know what to tell ya but it helps me to know that I may not blow up over Cleveland because of enhanced security techniques. It's easy to be brave on your laptop or PC but at 35,000 feet your mind does tend to wander about certain things. It ain't perfect but please if you have a better method by all means share, I'll even run it up the flagpole and you may make some money for it.

@anon 2:40 my point are the sentences given to Black defendants are usually harsher than white defendants for the same crime, is that racism? I don't know if not maybe you can help me understand.@ Focused Purpose, right now pilots and flight attendants are not exempt but go through lesser screenings. Some pilots are armed federalized law enforcement officers so they by pass security just like other federal law enforcement officers. The biggest reason we are trusted is because we are already in control of the aircraft and would have no need to smuggle any weapons so it would really be pointless to search us.

"I have this uncanny ability to sniff out a partisan fraud when I see one. If "W" was in the White House would you be as outraged over these TSA searches?That was a rhetorical question because I know the answer: NO!"-FN

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